Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

We continue our series of excerpts from “Matthew Henry on a Practical Method of Daily Prayer.” These will be without the usual comments and study references. My hope is that people will be like the Bereans, as described in Acts 17:11, and will put Henry’s writing to the test.

Cut & Paste or Type Method of Daily Prayer in the search box to see the previous post in this series.

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Directive Three: Close Every Day with God

David declared, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8). Henry said we may end our days in contentment if we have the Lord as our God. He wrote, “Let this still every storm, command and create a calm in thy soul. Having God to be our God in covenant, we have enough; we have all. And though the gracious soul still desires more of God, it never desires more than God; in him it reposeth itself with a perfect complacency; in him it is at home, it is at rest.”

Henry advised us to lie down with thanksgiving to God when we go to bed at night. We should review His mercies and deliverances at the end of each day. “Every bite we eat, and every drop we drink, is mercy; every step we take, and every breath we draw, mercy.” We should be thankful for nighttime as God’s provision for our rest, for a place to lay our heads, and for the health of body and peace of mind which allows us to sleep.

Bedtime also offers an opportunity to reflect upon both our mortality and our Christian hope. Henry encouraged us to think that just as we retire from work for a time when we go to bed, so we shall retire for a time in death until the day of resurrection. Just as we take off our clothes at night, so we will put off this body until we receive a new one the morning of Christ’s return. Just as we lie down in our beds to rest, so we will lie down in death to rest in Christ’s presence where no nightmares can trouble us. Henry’s focus on death was not unhealthy morbidity but a realistic consideration in a fallen world where many people die each day with or without the Christian hope that extends beyond this life to eternal glory.

As the light of eternity breaks upon us even after the sun has set, we should reflect upon our sins with repentant hearts, remembering our corrupt natures and examining our conscience for particular transgressions of the law. Henry taught us continually to plead for repentance with godly sorrow, making fresh application of the blood of Christ to our souls for forgiveness and drawing near to the throne of grace for peace and pardon each night. Let us commit our bodies to the care of God’s angels, and our souls to the influence of His Holy Spirit who works mysteriously in the night (Job 33:15–16; Ps. 17:3; 16:7). Then we may lie down in peace, resting upon the intercession of Christ to grant us peace with God and forgiving our fellow men all their offenses against us, so that our hearts may be at peace with God and man.

Henry suggested we might fall asleep with thoughts such as these:

To thy glory, O God, I now go to sleep. Whether we eat or drink, yea, or sleep, for this is included in whatever we do,—we must do it to the glory of God.… To thy grace, O God, and to the word of thy grace I now commend myself. It is good to fall asleep, with a fresh surrender of our whole selves, body, soul, and spirit, to God; now, ‘return to God as thy rest, O my soul; for he has dealt bountifully with thee.’ … O that when I awake I may be still with God; that the parenthesis of sleep, though long, may not break off the thread of my communion with God, but that as soon as I awake I may resume it!

So it was that Henry directed the Christian to the wonderful experience of walking with God in prayer. From morning, throughout the day, and until our eyes close at night, we are invited to enjoy the access to God granted to us in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:18 says, “For through him [Christ Jesus] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Henry wrote, “Prayer is our approach to God and we have access in it. We may come boldly … to speak all our mind. We may come with freedom.… We have access to his ear, ’tis always open to the voice of our supplications. We have access in all places, at all times.” We need not wait until heaven to enjoy God. “What’s heaven but an everlasting access to God, and present access is a pledge of it,” Henry said. “This life of communion with God, and constant attendance upon him, is a heaven upon earth.”

Joel R. Beeke, “Matthew Henry on a Practical Method of Daily Prayer,” in Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer, ed. Brian G. Najapfour (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011), 150–151.